Up until the thirties the area surrounding the Austrian
Embassy was part of the tradition of the borough of Tiergarten, a
fashionable residential suburb and recreation area.

The detached urban villas, surrounded by gardens, and the now
densely built-up metropolitan center edging towards the West,
called for a flexible response from the architect.

The Austrian Embassy houses three functions: the consular
department, the embassy offices, and the ambassador's residence.
The three-part design constitutes sections which are pushed one
into the other from outside in. The focal points of the
pre-patinated copper ellipses visually signals the entryway.

Hollein has created an unusual mixture of an
untamed individual building and a liberated peripheral street
block.

/Michael Mönninger

Photo: arcspace

On the exterior the sculptural curve of the building corner
overlays the basic figure of the ellipse and also shapes the design
of the two-story ambassador's office with a gallery mezzanine along
three walls and a large window opening up the Tiergarten panorama.
The building sections are made of different materials. The cubic
blocks are in stucco and stone while the contoured superstructure
is clad in copper.

Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

The publicly accessible areas with visa and tourist offices are
located on the ground floor. Above it are the ambassador's and
departmental attachés' offices and reception spaces, and on the
third floor some apartments for embassy staff. The office wing
facing the busy Tiergartenstrasse protects the garden and also
provides security, which is important in an embassy building.

A three-story glazed loggia, with dining room on the ground floor
and conference rooms and winter garden on the upper levels, was
pushed back into the inner spandrel so that the slight straddle of
consular and residential wings appear as a meaningful consequence
of this exterior turned interior space.

Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

Political officials will enter the building on the same level as
the public, but from the other, northern, side of the building
where the rectangular stone-box consular wing joins the copper-clad
ellipse of the ambassadorial wing.

Photo: arcspace

Here the stringency of the streets edge enclosure is attenuated:
the building recedes from the building line and follows the wide
dynamic curve of the central metal-clad structure. Facade and roof
merge to a sculptural form and its subdued opulence, as seen from
Tiergartenstrasse, visibly marks the beginning of the
representational part of the embassy building.